TORONTO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock ended
lower on Wednesday, after hovering near the unchanged mark for
much of the day, as financial shares weakened and lower oil
prices pulled down energy issues, undermining an early rally
led by gold and base-metal miners.

The Fed hinted on Tuesday that it may embark on a new round
of monetary stimulus, which unsettled some investors who had
become more optimistic about the economy's prospects and had
pushed up North American stocks to the highest levels since the
spring.

Also, Canadian bank executives said on Wednesday that
growth in their retail networks could be stunted by a cooling
housing market and falling consumer loans. [ID:nN22105411]

Data showed a slide in Canadian retail sales in July, and
U.S. figures further illustrated a beleaguered housing market
south of the border. [ID:nN22229778] [ID:nN22266559]

Energy shares were down 0.9 percent as oil prices fell
after U.S. government inventory data showed a rise in crude and
oil product stocks. [O/R]

The index's materials sector, however, rose more than 1
percent, boosted by another record day for gold prices and a
five-month high for copper prices as the greenback slid after
the U.S. Federal Reserve raised expectations of more
monetary-policy easing. [GOL/] [MET/L]

"Half the people see the market doing well, and so they
want to be there, and the other half are confused," said Ron
Meisels, technical analyst and president of Phases & Cycles in
Montreal.

He said September has often been the worst performing month
for stocks on the TSX, but the past few weeks have so far
defied that trend.

Since late August, the TSX is up about 6 percent.

"To date in September we have had a fantastic month. The
question then, of course, is is this an aberration, are we
going to suddenly collapse in last 10 days of September?"
Meisels said he doubts that will happen.

The S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE closed down 23.31
points, or 0.2 percent, at 12,147.26. Half of its 10 sectors
were weaker.

Meisels said the 12,000 figure represents a significant
psychological and technical support level, near the 21-day
moving average and the point of its most recent correction. He
said 12,300, near the year high reached in April still stands
as a level of key resistance.

In individual company news, Research In Motion RIM.TO
gained 1.5 percent to C$49.00 following a Wall Street Journal
report that the BlackBerry maker may use a developers'
conference next week to announce plans for a tablet computer to
compete with Apple and Amazon. [ID:nN21183657]

Potash Corp POT.TO, up 0.5 percent at C$151.29, was in
the spotlight again after it filed a lawsuit against BHP
Billiton BHP.AX BLT.L that seeks to block the mining
giant's $39 billion hostile takeover bid for the Canadian
fertilizer producer. [ID:nN22227579]

Sprott Inc SII.TO SII.TO soared almost 9 percent to
C$4.90 after the fund manager said it has entered into an
all-stock deal to acquire three U.S.-based resource investment
companies as it drives to expand its brand. [ID:nSGE68L0I5]